If MacGyver Designed Dacia Accessories

Sometimes it feels like car manufacturers have completely lost touch with reality. They're busy developing chrome-plated cup holders and drink trays with pink LED lighting that flash when you fill the tank with E95. And now, proudly joining this illustrious circus — Dacia. Yes, that Dacia. The one that, not so long ago, sounded more like a budget grilled chicken option from a backstreet petrol station than a car brand. And now they've gone and done something unexpected: they asked a bunch of design students to create something that might actually be useful. The result? A little something called Legătură.

Unveiled at the latest Paris Motor Show — during an event that sounds more like a Romanian folk dance than a design competition — the YouClip challenge brought together 65 students from three respected European design schools. But this wasn’t just another snooze-inducing PowerPoint-thon. No, this was a real competition. And out of that creative chaos emerged one winner: Hector Vanquaethem’s Legătură. Over 200 European journalists voted, and considering these are people who can write a three-paragraph opinion about a door handle, that tells you something. They loved it. And now, here you are, reading about it too.

“Legătură” means “connection” in Romanian. Which makes sense. This thing is a two-piece accessory — one part rugged and angular (imagine a handshake from a Romanian farmer), and the other soft, flexible, and waterproof. Flip it, fold it, clip it — it becomes a mat, a carry bag, even a makeshift picnic blanket. So when life inevitably drops you in the woods, at least you’ll have something to wrap your lunch in.

YouClip, by the way, is Dacia’s latest stroke of semi-genius. Found in models like the Duster, Spring, and now the Bigster, it’s a brilliantly simple system for clipping accessories exactly where you need them — inside the cabin, not on your Instagram feed. And on a test drive in the Bigster? It actually worked. Comfortably. Reliably. Practically.